


That would be telling

by solrosan



Series: Queensman [6]
Category: Kingsman (Movies)
Genre: Double Life, F/M, Friendship, Prince Eggsy Unwin, Prince Gary, Secret Identity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-23
Updated: 2018-11-23
Packaged: 2019-08-28 05:35:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16717425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solrosan/pseuds/solrosan
Summary: Five years after Eggsy and Tilde's engagement -- three years after Eggsy went back to Kingsman -- it has become clear that it's probably a good idea if someone else knew exactly what Eggsy does in London. Just in case.





	That would be telling

“You’re absolutely sure Harry’s okay with this?” 

Eggsy met Tilde’s concerned eyes through the mirror as he was putting on his tie. “You heard him when we Skyped last night. It’s fine.”

“I know, but--”

“He’s been on me about this since before this happened.”

“Yes, but… is he really sure? Are you?”

Eggsy finished tying the tie and turned around. He shook his head with a sigh. 

“I’m not,” he said, “but I think he is.”

“And he’s the boss?”

“Yeah, but he also has a point.”

“Mm.”

“How about you?”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. Are you okay with this?”

“Why would I get a say?”

“You’re my wife? And the one who has the most experience in this area.”

“Harry has way more.”

“Not when it comes to this.”

Tilde shook her head. “This isn’t weed or an eating disorder or… or a miscarriage. This is… it’s public safety. Keeping this secret keeps people safe. Not just us.”

Eggsy laughed. “Are you using that for or against telling her?”

“I honestly don’t know. The general rule is that the more the press office knows, the better.”

“But…?”

“But the more people who know, the bigger the risk that it gets out.”

“Do you trust her?”

“With my life -- and I trust Harry’s judgement.”

“So that settles it? We’re telling her.”

Tilde nodded. Eggsy wondered if he was missing something, since Tilde clearly was more hesitant about this than he was. Perhaps it was because he had told this secret before. Perhaps it was because she hadn’t made a decision about her parents yet…

He put on his suit jacket -- one of the bullet proof ones -- and his glasses. It was a professional meeting he was going to, after all. In double sense.

* * *

“Thank you for meeting with us,” said Eggsy, awkwardly shaking the hand of Frida Lind, the court’s Director of Press & Communication.

“Of course,” Frida said, indulging him in the handshake even if their relationship had moved past such formal greetings. She waved in the direction of the chairs in front of her desk. “Please, sit. Should I get some coffee?”

Both Tilde and Eggsy declined. 

Frida -- whose bushy hair and red glasses didn’t fit Eggsy’s stereotype of people working at court -- had been their rock during the engagement and first years of marriage. She called them by their first names (though she called him ‘Gary’ and not ‘Eggsy’) and on a few occasions they had had dinner together outside of the office, but she was an employee and not a friend. They were, for lack of a better term, her clients and Eggsy was still extremely uncomfortable having people around who rearranged their schedules for him on hardly any notice. Hence his awkward greeting.

Tilde reached out and took Eggsy’s hand in his lap. She smiled at him and he squeezed her hand lightly in return. All her nervousness, all her concern, all her doubt about this suddenly washed over him. It hit him like a tidal wave and his grip around her hand tightened.

Fuck.

He had to remind himself that Harry thought this was the right thing to do and take a deep breath before he could turn to Frida. Frida was their first line of defence. That was why they were doing this. They were protecting the secret, not revealing it.

“We have something we need to tell you,” he started. He noticed that Frida’s eyes instantly flickered over to Tilde and dropped to her stomach. He cleared his throat to get the attention back to him. “I mean _I_ have something to tell you.”

“All right. Shoot.”

“Right. Yes.” He pushed his glasses a little further up the nose and with that starting the video transmission back to Kingsman -- it was just as well to get it all recorded. “This is classified. I have permission to tell you because there might come a time when we need your help to keep this secret.”

“You’re not going to tell me that you’re pregnant, are you?”

“No.”

Tilde shook her head.

Frida nodded for Eggsy to continue.

He took another deep breath. This was it. “I’m not really training to become a tailor. When I’m in London I work for an international spy agency. Before I married Tilde I was a field agent, but now my main job’s training new agents.”

Straight to the point and no turning back. Frida looked between them a few times as if she expected one of them to crack. When they didn’t, she tried to lead the way by smiling herself.

“What?” she said, the question directed at Tilde.

Tilde nodded to confirm. She held on tightly to Eggsy’s hand. “We actually met when Gary rescued me from my cell after he’d killed Richmond Valentine.”

Frida sat up a little straighter, looking down at her hands that were folded on the desk before turning to Eggsy. 

“I’m sorry, but all my knowledge about British intelligence comes from James Bond, so what are we talking here? Mi5? -6?”

“Neither. We’re not part of the British intelligence service.”

“Officially?”

“At all.”

“So who do you report to?”

“We don’t.”

“You… don’t…? To anyone?” 

Eggsy shook his head.

Frida took off her glasses and pinched the root of her nose, sighing. Eggsy felt bad for her. When he’d learned about Kingsman he’d got an active demonstration and a guided tour, and he’d still had a hard time believing everything Harry told him.

“I’ll fetch that coffee, yeah?” he said, turning to Tilde. “Maybe you two can...”

Tilde nodded, squeezing his hand once as he got up. As he closed the door he could hear her asking Frida in Swedish if she was okay. He wondered how much time he should give them. They hadn’t discussed this beforehand, but instinctively it had felt right to leave them alone for a bit to talk it over in Swedish – Eggsy knew all too well by now how tiring it could be to speak a second language even if you were fluent in it and how liberating it sometimes was to switch to your first language. 

Also, he felt like he, too, needed a moment to regroup.

He knew his way around the press office well enough by now, so finding the break room was no problem. Neither was talking with the steff he met there, he knew about half of them by their first name and even though they called him “Your Highness” they all treated him like a human being rather than a concept. Eggsy really liked that. And since he happened to stop by, he got to pick the photo they would publish on their Instagram account for his birthday. He liked that too.

When he came back to the office, carrying a tray with a pot and three mugs, Frida was leaning against her desk, rubbing her temples. In Swedish, she asked a despondent question about Harry and the man’s credentials as a tailor.

“Harry’s a tailor,” said Eggsy after exchanging a look with Tilde to suss out how much she had said about Harry already. She discreetly shook her head.

“And you’re sure about that?” Frida asked.

“Well, he did make my clothes for the wedding,” Eggsy said, pouring Frida some coffee, “and if it helps, I do actually work some hours each week as an apprentice, but it’s just for show to keep the cover.”

“Tilde told me.”

Eggsy glanced at Tilde again, who was visibly more calm now than before. It struck Eggsy that this had been her first time talking about Kingsman in Swedish too. He felt a sting of guilt over that.

Frida leaned back in her chair, both hands around her coffee and her glasses still on the desk. She peered up at Eggsy. As her eyes wandered to Tilde and back to him he could almost hear her draw up a Doomsday Protocol that would have made Merlin proud. In that moment he knew they had made the right decision to tell her.

“I think I’ll quit and write a book,” Frida finally said when they were half-way through their coffee. “Or maybe a movie, Hollywood will eat this with a spoon.” 

Eggsy chuckled. “Probably, yeah.”

“Why did you decide to tell me?”

“Because we trust you.”

“Cute. You’ve been keeping this secret successfully for five years, why tell me now? I’m not stupid, something’s happened? What changed?”

“ _I_ was stupid,” Eggsy admitted with an embarrassed smile. “One of my agents was getting himself in trouble, I went to help him and was caught on eleven mobiles and two CCTV cameras.”

“That _was_ stupid.”

Eggsy nodded. He didn’t regret going after Percival, but he recognised how careless it had been (even before Harry had scolded him for it).

“When I went back to Kingsman, the deal was that I wouldn’t go out in the field. Both for our sake” -- Eggsy looked at Tilde who met his eyes with a smile -- “and for the sake of the agency. It all went fine when it was mostly yelling at recruits and picking paint samples for the briefing room, but once we started to send the agents out there… I mean, want to promise that I won’t do it again, but I know I can’t and that’s why I need you.”

“That’s _we_ need you,” said Tilde, looking at Eggsy. “If something would happ-- That’s why we need you.”

Eggsy reached for her hand.

“I see.” Frida put her glasses back on. “Okay. Well. How much can I you tell me about this before you’ll have to kill me?”

“We use amnesia darts these days.”

“Amnesia da--” Frida cut herself off, shook her head and dropped it. “Tell me what you can.”

Very carefully, Eggsy started to tell Frida his story, his real story and not the one he’d told her five years ago when they had just announced the engagement. He told her about how Lee really died (or as much as he knew of it), he spoke briefly about the training, mostly focusing on J.B., he mentioned that Roxy had been an agent too but didn’t linger on the topic and didn’t tell her where he’d been the night Roxy died, he did however tell her how Kingsman had been destroyed and how he now took part in the rebuilding of the organisation. He didn’t so much as hint at the existence of the Statesmen and he was very vague about Harry’s role in all of this.

When he was done, Frida looked through the notes she’d asked for permission to take about half-way through his story -- Eggsy had reluctantly agreed to it if she used pen and paper so that nothing could be hacked. Her first question was how many at Kingsman knew that he was a Prince of Sweden. Eggsy could tell that she wasn’t pleased with the answer “probably everyone,” but she didn’t comment. Instead she kept on asking questions to fill the information gaps she thought she needed to do her job. 

In the middle of it Frida’s mobile rang -- Lorde’s Royals, Eggsy loved her for that. When she saw who it was, Frida reached over the desk and handed the phone to Tilde.

“You explain to SVT why I’m not in the meeting about your husband’s birthday celebrations.”

Tilde smirked as she took the mobile and got up. She walked to the corner of the office and answered with a cheerful voice and just her first name. The other two watched her for a moment, then Frida turned to Eggsy and beckoned him closer. 

“Thank you for bringing her back to us,” she said quietly. “Both literally and figuratively. I don’t know what we’d do without her.”

Eggsy blushed and glanced back over at Tilde. He remembered Harry’s words about not getting thanked for anything they ever did, and even though he was fine with that, it filled him with warmth to hear it from someone on the outside.

“You’re welcome,” he said when he turned back to Frida, “but the part about us saving each other is still true, you know. She brought me back too.”

“That much I understood while getting to know you the first time.” Frida sat up straight again, turning the page of her notebook. “Now, how many suits have you put your name on that someone else has made?”

“Just one -- Tilde’s.”

“Because of course it’s the one in most the photos…” Frida muttered to herself. They kept going. Tilde came back just in time to hear Frida concluding that this was enough material for an entire Netflix series. Both Eggsy and Tilde thought it would be a great idea.

“Only one last question,” said Frida, finally, after they had been at it for almost one and a half hour. “Don’t ask why it wasn’t the first, but what do the King and Queen say?”

Eggsy and Tilde exchanged an awkward look and Tilde shifted on her chair. 

“We haven’t told them,” said Tilde. 

Frida blinked. “What?”

“Actually, you’re the only person we’ve told,” Eggsy said. “My mum suspects that I’m not a real tailor, but that’s because she knows Harry and knew what my dad did. Sort of.”

Frida shook her head slightly. She closed the notebook and folded her hands on top of it.

“I have to be honest,” she said when she looked up at them, “I have no idea what to do with what you’ve just told me -- any of it, really. I’m touched by your trust and your confidence, but Tilde, you need to talk to your parents. If something happens that’s worse than a few youtube videos, you’ll need your parents. That much I do know.”

Tilde nodded. Frida gave her a sympathetic look before she turned to Eggsy.

“Can I book a meeting about this sometime during next week when your birthday’s over?” she asked. “I need some time to process this.”

“Sure.”

“Thank you,” she said, reaching for her phone to get her callender. “I’ll find a time that works and coordinate with… who has your schedule these days?”

“Tilde and Harry.”

“You can run it by Martin,” Tilde jumped in. “He keeps track of both our lives when Gary’s here, and I’ll talk to Harry about the rest.”

“You need a better solution for that,” said Frida. “I don’t care if you tell someone else or if you recruit someone from within your own organisation, Gary, but you need one person for this, not three. That will be my first recommendation.”

“I’ll see to it as soon as I’m back in London.”

“Good.” Frida tapped her pen against the notepad. “Now, I hope it goes without saying that all your secrets are safe with me -- no matter what they are and not just because it’s my job. You’ve both done a great job keeping this secret all by yourself and I hope we can keep it like this, but if not… If something happens, I will need to tell people to be able to do this.”

Both Eggsy and Tilde nodded.

“Do I have your permission to do that, Gary?”

Eggsy took a deep breath through his nose. He’d known this question would come. They had talked about it when Harry called yesterday and they couldn’t turn back now, yet the words seemed stuck at the back of his throat. He trusted Frida’s judgement, but it was different being the one telling the secret and letting someone else tell it for you. 

“ _Give her the permission,_ ” said Harry quietly in his ear. Eggsy tensed up momentarily. He had forgotten that he was transmitting the conversation through the glasses, and he really hadn’t expected Harry to listen in. 

He gave a short nod as confirmation. “Yes.”

“Thank you,” Frida said. “Perhaps we can discuss this further next week?”

“Yeah. Probably good.”

“All right then,” said Frida. “I think that’s all I can do for now.”

Eggsy reached out to take Tilde’s hand again. He gave it a light squeeze as they both carefully watched where Frida locked away the notebook. They wrapped up the meeting after that and helped Frida carry the empty coffee mugs to the breakroom. 

No one in the press office took any real notice of them as Frida then showed them out. Here, among the people whose job it was to create and uphold the public image of the Crown princess couple, they were almost invisible.

* * *

“Wasn’t so bad, was it?”

Eggsy had taken off his glass (realising a little too late that he might have hung up on Harry, but he shouldn’t have been eavesdropping anyway so...) and was hanging up the Kingsman suit back at Haga Palace.

Tilde smiled, barely convincingly, from the door of the walk-in closet. “Guess not.”

Eggsy frowned. “What? I thought it went well?”

“It did.”

“Then what?”

“Nothing. It’s good that we told her.”

“Tilde.”

“Do we have to--”

“Yes.”

“I just…” Tilde sighed, her arms around herself. “I haven’t thought about you dying in a while.”

“Damn,” mumbled Eggsy. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” she said with another not-so-convincing smile. “I’m okay. I hadn’t realised that I’d stopped, is all. Got used to you not being a field agent. Frida’s comment threw me.”

Eggsy walked up to her and wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine,” she murmured against his neck. “Promise.”

“I know this isn’t what we talked about when I went back. It’s just, I’m sending this kids out there and I can’t--”

“Eggsy…” Tilde pulled away, still standing in his arms. “I don’t expect you sit at your desk if someone needs you. I get it. I understand, I do. It’s one of the reasons I love you. I just… it’s been nice forgetting about worrying. Just need some readjusting.”

Eggsy kissed her and rested his forehead against hers. “Jag älskar dig.”

“I love you too.”

“And you know I do everything I can to not get killed, yeah?”

Tilde smiled. “Yes.”

“Seriously, though, I’m sorry.”

“Never apologise for saving the world -- or the people you care about,” said Tilde, putting her hand on his chest. “I was much more prepared for what it meant marrying a spy than you were marrying a princess.”

“Well, I’m catching up.”

“Slowly.”

Eggsy giggled and gave her another kiss. 

It was a while since he had thought about him dying and what that would mean these days, too. He didn’t feel like thinking about it right now either, but it made him absolutely sure that telling Frida was the right thing to do. If he was going to end up in the field again, Tilde needed people in her corner.

He wondered if creating a safety net for Tilde might have been one of Harry’s reasons for pushing them to tell someone at court and not just to protect Kingsman. Even if it wasn’t, Eggsy would thank him for it the next time they talked.

And speaking of talking… He would make sure they talked to her parents. Soon.

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't necessarily the same Frida as in [End of a Line](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15414117/chapters/35774343), since those two verses can't really coexist, but I'm really bad at making up names for my characters. And I imagine the two Fridas' offices to look the same, so... who knows?


End file.
